Chasing Peace
by Captain Storm Fox
Summary: RxS: No likey, no read-y! Set after the war is over but with a Marauder style twist... T for safety. MxM kiss/love. Reviews are beaut.


**Disclaimer:** I own nothing _*sob.*_ Except an abundance of imagination and a penchant for unproofed rambling late at night...credit goes to that very rich lady named JK Something or Other.

**A/N:** Oh now I'm back! From outer space! _Yah da yah_. Quite probably the owner of the most _**ancient**_ profile on this site, I'm practically a fossil for all you whipper snappers and up and comers. But my muse returned after years of dark days and I embrace her. Proof that love of writing never dies.

To any who remember me and followed or favourited, my deepest regrets and gratitude are with you. **Always**.

**WARNING:** MxM pairing. No likey, no read-y.

Such a strange feeling. Floating. Or maybe falling? He didn't know.

Quite as suddenly as he had decided that he didn't know it seemed he was absolutely sure and he stretched out on a wide expanse of 'something.' In realising that there was something upon which to be, he presently decided he must have a body with which to feel and, further to this, a body with which to raise himself.

Slowly, using newfound arms, he lifted himself from the floor. He noted it was neither warm nor cool, neither soft nor hard. It was simply a flat blank something on which to be. In kneeling, he discovered he had not only knees, but legs. The realisation of owning a torso came coupled with the fact that he was naked, yet no shame arose, such was the feeling of complete peace and the depth of the silence surrounding him.

He opened his eyes slowly, deliberately. Expecting harsh lights or unknown horrors, he was relieved to see a wide open hall as far as his eyes could make out. Nothing moved. The furniture seemed half-formed, hazy around the edges as though he was not fully awake yet. He sampled blinking several times and found that the light melted into wooden tables, four of them, long and lined with any number of wooden chairs. Coloured hangings of red, blue, green and yellow fluttered gently in a warm breeze that felt like a lover's breath. He breathed it in with great satisfaction and felt a wonderful warmth, like eating chocolate after a Dementor attack, spreading throughout his body.

Clothes. For the first time, he worried about being found nude by..._who_? Nobody was here. No human voices assailed his ears; no ordinary chatter or bustle could be detected. A small pile on a nearby chair revealed itself to be a pair of dark brown tweed trousers, slightly shabby, a collarless white shirt with a button missing from the left cuff and a soft, v-neck jumper in bottle green. Slipping into them felt like a second skin and he wondered who could have known his size, his shape, his favourite colours and styles even.

Dressed now, he smoothed the front of the jumper against the front of his torso and felt a certain change. He couldn't pinpoint it exactly but it was there, burning and tingling, not unpleasantly but with the promise of something worth waiting for. He slipped on a pair of brown loafers that were curiously moulded to his feet and ran his hands through his hair. Chocolate and caramel strands slipped around his long, white hands and he pulled lightly, half enjoying the tweak of the roots against his scalp.

He stood, tall and lithe, and surveyed his surroundings. A bizarre familiarity settled in his chest and it was with comfortable understanding that he knew he was standing in the Great Hall at Hogwarts, that he was needed. Turning in his comfortable shoes, he stepped into the Entrance Hall and walked towards the doors which had been left open and were allowing a dazzling burst of sunlight to fill the cavernous space in which he stood, half blinded and warmed by the rays.

The grounds lay before him, lush and green. The Whomping Willow seemed almost peaceful, only occasionally flicking away a happily chirruping bird or two and the Giant Squid waved its tentacles in a great show of lazy satisfaction. It was without decision that his legs began to walk him beyond Hagrid's Hut to the edge of the lake where several figures could be seen, silhouetted against the deep blue summer sky. The smell of impending evening tugged at his senses and thrust memories upon him like a child pulls at the hand of an elderly loved one – it beckoned him, beguiled him, pulled him to come and see..._what exactly_ he wondered?

In no great rush, he ambled casually down to the water's edge where the group seemed to be waiting. Closer now, he could clearly make them out. A girl of about twenty with long russet hair and a pale oval face was lounging on the grass, her head propped on her slim arm as she laughed at the two boys standing in the water. They were in high spirits, flicking the cool spray at one another and the smaller of the two seemed almost too overjoyed at being included in such a perfect moment. His watery blue eyes reflected the lake and there was an inner peace, long strived for, that glittered for a moment. The taller boy had unruly dark hair that stuck up at the back and round glasses he was forever hitching up his snub nose with his free hand; the other hand held a stolen snitch, beating its frantic wings against his knuckles.

He smiled and began to walk towards the group. Everything had fallen into place. The group had become hushed as he continued his walk; the girl stood up and was starkly silhouetted against the rapidly pinkening sky.

"I was beginning to think you'd _never_ show up."

That voice, haughty to the outsider and yet full of warmth and wit for those who knew it well. And he knew it _oh_ so well. The voice he feared he would never hear again, the voice that had tortured his nights long after its owner was gone. The owner of the voice stepped out from behind a nearby tree and coolly surveyed the newcomer in his white shirt. The sleeves were rolled untidily to the elbow and the tie discarded on the grass. Though no more than seventeen, a lifetime of suffering, of regret and of wisdom and dedication shone in the young man's grey oval eyes. His full lips curved into a smile as he pushed the silken black locks away from his forehead, as though he wanted to take a better look at the newcomer without the interference of an overlong fringe.

"It's good to see you," said the dark haired boy in the lake, his hands deep in his pockets as the Snitch flew lazily around his head and shoulders. He smiled warmly as the girl joined him and his arm snaked around her waist, an unconscious act of coupling that left it obvious they always had and always would be deeply in love. The smaller boy with the watery eyes bowed his head nervously, eyes shining with tears of remorse and respect.

"Peter. You..."

"I'm so sorry. For all that I did. For everyone I wronged. Can you believe that? I was a coward until the end. Until Harry gave me the chance to redeem myself, to right the act that condemned me to be cast out and to serve as _V.._."

Peter's voice shook and died, tears choking him off. The grey eyed boy cast him a look of knowing and the girl laid her hand on his arm gently until he raised his head again.

"What's done is done. What matters is its over. And we all played our part. Now there is nothing more to ask of us. We've been waiting for you."

She smiled easily and the newcomer found he was smiling too. As the young couple began to walk back to the castle, they were followed by Peter, his smile brave now. He nodded as he left, leaving the two boys alone.

"I didn't know if you would come. I hoped. But I was so _unsure_...especially after what happened when we got older...it got harder and –"

Their lips met and forced the words away. Their fingers held tight to one another's hips, hair, necks, shoulders...any part to anchor them to one another lest they be separated again. The agony of loneliness, the raw broken part of each of them was healed as they touched, fulfilled as they kissed. Their mouths melded in a perfect symphony as two hearts beat frantically, whole at last inside two different chests. When they finally pulled apart, the overwhelmed newcomer leaned his forehead gently against the taller boys' as they half stood, half leaned against the tree and struggled to contain tears of emotion which threatened to engulf them like a suffocating tide at any second.

"I will _always_ find you. Wherever you are, is where I should be...being apart-"

"Never again. We have nothing else to give. Nothing else is needed from us now," smiled the grey-eyed boy.

"Then let's go and find the peace that we chased for so long but never owned when we were still alive, Sirius."

Sirius smiled, lines softening his grey eyes for a moment in the sunset rays. He kissed his lover softly, barely brushing the piqued top lip in his tenderness.

"This time we leave together Remus."

And lacing their fingers gently, they took a last look across the glittering lake, towards the dying sun before they turned away and walked back towards the castle, their retreating backs becoming more and more unfocussed as they moved towards where the surrounding area was brightest and the castle no longer visible.

THE END.

**A/N:** I wrote this in 42 minutes whilst listening to Power Ballads on MTV..._please_ don't sue me or flame me! **Reviews** are the best thing ever yo. Now Remus and Sirius can truly rest in peace


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